Creation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church
Creation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church
Creation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church
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CHAPTER FIVE<br />
THE CREATION OF MAN<br />
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to<br />
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons,<br />
and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of<br />
the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made<br />
two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to<br />
rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the<br />
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over<br />
the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:<br />
and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were<br />
the fourth day. (Ge 1:14-19)<br />
We have already explained why the Book of Genesis tells us that light<br />
was created in the first day of the creation and that the sun and the stars<br />
were created on the fourth day. The sun and the stars when God<br />
created them were hidden in a cloud of dense dust that surrounded<br />
them, which made an observer on earth unable to discern their shape,<br />
but rather to see diffuse light. Scientists tell us that it took a billion<br />
years for the dust to settle down, and only then could the sun and the<br />
stars be visible. The Book of Genesis tells us the same thing in a<br />
simplified way that we can understand, without using scientific jargon.<br />
Not only were these stars created to give life, but also to be “for<br />
signs and for seasons, and for days” because the revolution of these<br />
heavenly bodies is the means by which man will be able to compute<br />
time.<br />
The creation of light was very essential for life to start on earth.<br />
Plants depend on the light for their metabolism using Photosynthesis,<br />
a complicated biochemical process by which plants, bacteria and other<br />
simple organisms use carbon dioxide and water to produce sugar and<br />
starch.<br />
Like a good scientist, God created the world in good order, first the<br />
light, then after the earth which was without shape became formed<br />
through the creation of dry land, plants were created. Plants used the<br />
energy of the sun to form nutritive materials to help them grow. God<br />
also put in the plants the power to recreate or reproduce themselves,<br />
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